See all Posts in the Wanderlust – A Travel Blog Series

The beauty of a waterfall is highly subjective. You might think that the size of a waterfall would not be subjective, but it is.

Waterfalls can be measured by height, width, farthest drop, volume of water, flow rate and other attributes. Your choice for the world’s greatest waterfall will depend on how you choose to measure it.

My measure of a great waterfall is the degree to which its mighty roar rattles my bones when I am standing at the base.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is familiar to most of us as the grandest waterfall in North America. Located on the Canadian border near Buffalo, New York, it also bears the distinction of being the easiest of the world’s great waterfalls to visit. Bring your passport, though, because the best view of the falls is from the Canadian side.

Niagara consists of three waterfalls: Horseshoe (aka Canadian Falls), American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. While not the tallest or the widest, Niagara Falls’ flow rate of 85,000 cubic feet per second ranks it among the most powerful waterfalls in the world.

At the base of Niagara, the “Maid of the Mist” and other boats will take you right up to the falls so you can feel the spray and the power of the falling water.

If you have ever been to the “Honeymoon Capital of the World,” you will agree that Niagara is a pretty good bone-rattler and an impressive natural wonder.  

Angel Falls

Angel Falls in Venezuela is widely recognized as the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 3,212 feet, including a dramatic plunge of 2,648 feet. Angel Falls is the beauty queen of the world’s waterfalls, with her graceful and dramatic drop into the Venezuelan jungle. But like the beauty queens I remember from my youth, she is distant and remote, and hard to get anywhere near.

Most visitors to Angel Falls start with a flight to Caracas, then take “puddle jumper” domestic flights to the jungle village of Canaima. From there, it is still a four-hour boat ride and then a 90-minute soggy, slippery jungle hike to the lookout for Angel Falls. When you combine this rugged remoteness with the fact that the U.S. Department of State strongly advises against all travel to Venezuela, most of us are going to have to pass on seeing Angel Falls in person, at least for now.  

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls, while also remote, is much easier and safer to visit. Located on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe, it is considered by many to be the world’s largest waterfall based on its combined width of 5,604 feet and height of 354 feet, creating the world’s largest sheet of falling water.

While most of us would struggle to find Zambia or Zimbabwe on an unlabeled map of Africa, Victoria Falls is well developed and surprisingly easy to get to. Generally, travelers will start with a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. From there, it is a direct flight to the Mugabe International Airport in Zimbabwe, which is less than 15 miles from Victoria Falls.

Zambia and Zimbabwe are economically disadvantaged, but they cater to tourists and are genuinely grateful for every dollar spent there. While Victoria Falls is stunning, the primary tourist draw for that area is wildlife safaris. Don’t miss the opportunity while you are there to take in both the falls and a safari. The truly adventurous can also bungee jump from the bridge overlooking the falls above the Zambezi River.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls is a massive system of hundreds of interconnected waterfalls spanning 1.7 miles along the border of Argentina and Brazil. Perversely, in the rainy season, there are fewer falls, as hundreds of streams grow in size and power and merge into fewer but much larger flows. Iguazu is considered by many to be the largest waterfall system in the world.

Getting there is not complicated. Iguazu International Airport can be reached through multiple cities and by multiple airlines from Brazil or Argentina. Hotels are widely available nearby at every price point.

There are fabulous viewpoints from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides. Both sides offer precarious metal staircases and dramatic trails and walkways that take you mere feet from the roaring water. Like Niagara’s Maid of the Mist, there are boats at the base to help you get up close and personal with the roaring water.

Eleanor Roosevelt visited Iguazu Falls in 1944, and upon seeing the majestic waterway, exclaimed, “Oh, my poor Niagara.”

Iguazu Falls is remote enough to be exotic. It is easy enough to be accessible for the modestly adventuresome traveler. And it is bone-rattling enough to claim the title of the greatest waterfall in the world, at least in my view.  

(Dan Keyport is a CCLN board member and former Chaska business owner, now retired. His home base for international travel has been Chaska for more than 30 years.)